Monthly Archives: April 2016

This FRIDAY the Fire Brigade’s Union and Steve Howley will be bringing up their famous fire engine to run a stall in town. Steve is running as our North Yorkshire PCC in opposition to the flawed austerity plans to gut the fire and emergency services across our region.

The Engine will be on display and Steve’s helpers will be giving out PPC election leaflets from 11am till approx 3pm

The Labour Group has submitted the following resolution for debate at the Scarborough Borough Council meeting on Monday May 9th

Liz Colling will propose the motion which will be seconded by Gerald Dennett , many labour councillors hope to speak in support of this and draw residents attention to the successful E U funded developments in the Borough including Woodland Creative Workspace, Scarborough Business Park and Green Lane Neighbourhood centre .

‘This council believes that our country’s membership of the European Union has delivered very real benefits for the Borough’s residents.

These benefits include millions of pounds in E U funding, supporting economic growth and regeneration locally.

E U membership has given vital rights to British workers and the E U’s rules provide important protection to consumers, workers and the environment. Rights to equal pay, paid holidays, maternity and paternity leave, equal rights for part-time workers and health and safety regulations, quality of our bathing waters are all protected under E U law.

Leaving the E U would seriously undermine further regeneration and weaken our ability to attract investment and jobs to the Borough.

Scarborough Borough Council therefore believes it is in the best interests of residents, business and the whole of the Borough for the UK to remain a member of the European Union ‘

The decision by North Yorkshire County Council’s portfolio holder with responsibility for schools, Arthur Barker; to “pause” and “take stock” in respect of a decision to amalgamate Eskdale and Caedmon Schools in Whitby was the correct thing to do.

In fact I’m not surprised given the introduction of the Government White Paper “Educational Excellence Everywhere” and the decision by Brayton School governors in Selby to join a Multi Academy Trust; thus derailing proposals to amalgamate/merge with Selby High School.

In view of this decision I would urge all parents, school governors and teaching staff in North Yorkshire to do as Cllr Barker suggests, “pause and take stock”.

Rushing to acadamisation without taking the time to carefully consider the implications for education, not just in the Borough of Scarborough or the wider school community in North Yorkshire, but throughout the country, could have disastrous consequences for all of us.

Schools do not become successful simply as a result of becoming an academy; strong schools deliver educational excellence by working in partnership with other local schools, the local community and yes local councils to improve standards ensuring the needs of young people are met and exceeded.

When a school is struggling, action must be taken – but converting every school to an academy, without giving parents a say, is not the answer, especially when there is not a shred of evidence that it will help improve education standards.

It is quite wrong for the Government to put at risk some of the excellent work done by schools and the Local Authority in North Yorkshire by introducing these reckless ideological plans to force all schools to become academies.

However is not to late to resist these proposals which, we must remember, are by no means certain to happen. The Government’s declared ambition, is just that, an ambition.

The Government needs to listen to the concerns of parents, teachers, unions, local representatives from across the political divide and experts and rethink their proposals; however as Arthur Barker points out: “Guidance from the Department for Education states clearly that decision makers must have regard to the academy requirement and indeed play an enabling role in the growth of multi-academy trusts. The local authority must, as a result, ensure that these requirements are both met but also positively explored for their potential to address current concerns.”

With that in mind governing bodies need to arm themselves with the information they need to make informed choices should the need arise.

John Ritchie

Labour Group Spokesman, Children & Young People Services, North Yorkshire County Council.

Originally from John Ritchie’s site https://labourcouncillor.wordpress.com/

We’ve had members getting in touch to ask us to let other members know about an exciting new play which is coming to Scarborough next month. It’s apparently very political, and features the labour party – we hope it goes easy on us!

A show which ‘strikes at the heart of British politics, questioning the middle class value system that encouraged the rise of New Labour and David Cameron’s brand of Conservatism’ comes to the Stephen Joseph Theatre next month after being seen by MPs at the Houses of Parliament.

Performance poet Luke Wright’s What I Learned from Johnny Bevan took the Edinburgh Fringe by storm and then sold out three weeks at London’s Soho Theatre. Wright received a Stage Award for Acting Excellence for his hurricane performance and the show received a Fringe First for the quality of the writing. The London run added a nomination for the 2017 Off West End Awards and Luke will stage the show for politicians the Houses of Parliament on 27 April, at the invitation of the Labour MP for Norwich South and Shadow Minister for Energy and Climate Change, Clive Lewis.

Now, as part of an extensive national tour, local audiences can see what all the fuss is about when it visits the Stephen Joseph Theatre on Thursday 26 May.

What I Learned from Johnny Bevan is a compelling, politically charged story encompassing shattered friendships, class and social ceilings, and The Labour Party’s battle for its soul.

At university the whip-smart, mercurial Johnny Bevan saves Nick, smashing his comfortable middle class bubble and firing him up about politics, music and literature. Twenty years later, as their youthful dreams disintegrate alongside the social justice they hoped for, can Nick, now a jaded music journalist, save Johnny from himself?

Luke Wright delivers an impassioned, spellbinding performance of his razor sharp script that is infused with humour, humanity and wit. What I Learned from Johnny Bevan strikes at the heart of British politics, questioning the middle class value system that encouraged the rise of New Labour and David Cameron’s brand of Conservatism, and saw both parties abandon the working class. This gripping story is a modern fable that reflects today’s political polarisation and resonates with the disillusionment felt by many. See a 360° video here www.bit.ly/1nxINhS

Luke Wright tours the world each year with his unique brand of poetry and can often be seen opening for John Cooper Clarke. His verse documentaries on Channel 4 have been enjoyed by millions of viewers and his poems can often be heard on BBC Radios 3 & 4, sometimes further afield. He is a regular contributor to Sony Award-winning Saturday Live and has numerous main channel TV appearances under his belt. He curates the spoken word line-ups at The Latitude Festival, Festival Number 6 and The Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Tickets for What I Learned from Johnny Bevan are £10-£12.50, with tickets for under-30s available at just £6 each, and are available from the box office on 01723 370541 or www.sjt.uk.com

‘A pulsating piece of poetic storytelling’ ★★★★ Lyn Gardner, Guardian

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‘Stirring eloquence and resonant delivery heighten the drama and clarify the emotional impact’ ★★★★ The Stage

‘An evocative, poetic monologue… anyone familiar with Wright’s work will recognise his deft hand’ ★★★★ Time Out

‘An astonishing, thought-provoking and original tour-de-force’ ★★★★★ London Theatre1

‘It’s like an episode of This Is England, delivered by one man. Brilliant’ ★★★★ Daily Record

Students and parents are jubilant that NYCC has decided to postpone the decision to close Eskdale School. Watch the video to see the strength of feeling throughout the town as children, parents and supporters take to the streets of Whitby .The fight goes on!

We’ve asked them to provide a brief summary of their campaign for local labour members;

“On the 14th April at 5pm in Scarborough town centre, we will be having our own demonstration in solidarity with all the workers in the American “FIGHT FOR $15” who will be on strike this day as part of a global day of action. The aim of this will be to bring awareness of our campaign amongst food and retail workers in the town centre and to bring these workers into political activism and trade unionism. We want this campaign in Scarborough to be a cross-union, cross-party campaign because a £10 an hour minimum wage would improve the lives of all of us and only by all of us uniting can we win. If you want to get involved with us then please join us on the 14th of April for our day of action. We plan to do some in-workplace petitioning and leafletting with a demonstration outside the workplaces to show to the workers that the public do care about these workers and they are not a forgotten and trodden-on part of our society, they work hard in often quite dangerous conditions with no guarantee of hours and having to rely on working tax credits in order to top up their wages to a living wage. We believe that the companies that employ these workers ought to pay them a full living wage of at least £10 an hour and we believe that we will win!

For further information on how to get involved or if you are already in a trade union branch that would like to get involved and support our campaign then please contact BFAWU Steve on 07540599170”

As well as networking workers and getting them clued up on their rights, BFAWU are also delivering a national petition to government – so far collecting thousands of signatures in Glasgow, London, Cambridge, Sheffield, Wakefield, Manchester and several hundred from Scarborough.

As much as we can set up good worker’s rights, the current protections for workers are not enforced – for an alarming number of jobs in Scarborough working conditions have rolled back to the 1930s, with people regularly having less than only a handful of hours between night and morning shifts as opposed to the 11 hours which the law guarantees, being clocked out by the employer when it’s quiet, and not being paid past opening and closing times, even though it takes an hour to open or close the business. The trend setters in this exploitation are the multi-national businesses, not necessarily small local businesses. This is why it’s absolutely vital that we as a party support groups like BWAFU that are actually going out and educating workers.

BFAWU also supports us, Jeremy Corbyn came to their yearly conference in Scarborough in February – and many of them are card carrying labour members who want to use this campaign as an opportunity to build a platform for a Scarborough Labour victory in a few years time.

We are already actively supporting their campaign, and we have been present at their stalls. The BFAWU campaigners have fantastic energy and are a joy to be around. They are looking for labour members to take the message into their workplaces and the wider community, and of course they are happy to discuss work place issues members may be having. They need all the support they can get, so if you have any skills and time that you can offer them, do contact steve.p.day@googlemail.com